Florida aside I have to admit that this week at the beach has been the warmest spring break that we’ve had in years! We’ve had the boat out, been to the beach, and swam the dogs just about everyday. I almost hate to head back to reality - though I’m well aware of what awaits!

We headed to the beach this year for spring break, and made a day trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Unbeknownst to us there was a rainforest exhibit which tied in directly with what Kate has been learning lately.

I’m a little jet lagged after spending the last 4 days in Milan Italy - we just got back from the Milan Fair. The food, the architecture, everything about the trip was wonderful - except the lack of AC on the plane ride (both ways)!

Shortly after 10:00 am Verizon arrived for their scheduled 4 hour FIOS installation - not too bad considering I was told they could arrive anytime between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm! The first thing the installer said was, “There’s no conduit here…” I was immediately overcome with a wave of sadness. Until moments later a huge truck dragging a Ditch Witch, a monsterous spool of conduit and a team on non-English speaking shovel toting conduit installers arrived!

I’ve put up with Comcast’s lousy service for almost 2 years now - because I haven’t had any alternatives. I pay $57.95 / month for 6 Mbps / 768 Kbps and I’m lucky if I get 1 Mbps / 384 Kbps. But tommorrow, that is all about to change! If all goes according to plan all of the bright colored paint across my driveway and yard will be dug up and Verizon will lay fiber from the street, up the hill that is my yard, to my house! With FIOS I should be getting 15 Mbps / 2 Mbps for $44.95 / month. $13 cheaper / month for more then twice Comcast’s published speeds, but realisitically 15 times their actual speeds. It’s been an awful long time coming, but I’m sure it’ll have been worth the wait.

We did something a little out of the ordinary this past weekend - we went camping, per se. To give the big kids an overall familiarity / idea of what they’re getting into this summer, we all spent the weekend at the YMCA’s camp Tockwogh in Worton Maryland. It was by no means restfull - we worked hard this cleanup weekend, but in the end I think I can safely say that everyone had a wonderful time. And I think, everyone is very excited about returning this summer!